But I think it's also that games don't normally have that much attention to detail. A new team less familiar with the material may not have even considered a lot of these things. I think it's just more that the attention to detail and the artistry of the earlier games was out of the ordinary, so when people see Downpour with the same dirty window texture on every fucking window, it's really disappointing because they are spoiled a bit.

Otherworld wrote:^TBH, after Silent Hill 4 the lack of refinement in the instalments post Team Silent is clearly evident. There is no way you can argue against that.

I mean how can a game created in the "SD" era look better than a game created in the "HD era???

The only real answer is that the team that created SH1234 took the necessary time and was dedicated enough to go over the finer details and make things look as good as they possibly could.

Whether the developers of HC and DP had that same amount of time to do so is unclear.

In my opinion, they did an awesome job with Homecoming. Lots of detail to check out in Hell Descent, for example. And the boss design is the best one in the entire series, especially when considering Amnion.

Otherworld wrote:^TBH, after Silent Hill 4 the lack of refinement in the instalments post Team Silent is clearly evident. There is no way you can argue against that.

I mean how can a game created in the "SD" era look better than a game created in the "HD era???

The only real answer is that the team that created SH1234 took the necessary time and was dedicated enough to go over the finer details and make things look as good as they possibly could.

Whether the developers of HC and DP had that same amount of time to do so is unclear.

In my opinion, they did an awesome job with Homecoming. Lots of detail to check out in Hell Descent, for example. And the boss design is the best one in the entire series, especially when considering Amnion.

They did an awesome job at saving HC from what it was originally going to be. And I agree, the bosses in HC were pretty awesome.

But comparing the HC to SH3 shines a true light on the quality of both instalments. Like I said earlier, I don't know if the team that created HC had as much time to refine their instalment as the team that created SH3.

Putting both side by side as far as character models, scenery, design. And then factoring in the the fact that one was designed for an SD console and the other was designed for a next gen HD console. The differences really speak for themselves.

I am sure that Konami should take the brunt of the blame as they really don't care for this franchise.

The design is not just an artistic job. The HC art might be more beautiful than SH3, but the design is not so qualified. The franchise were created in the basis of symbolism, there is no monster pumping up by chance - there is no jump scary or just disgusting blood and gore. The point is to build an universe where things are connected - is organic. When you do that, you miss a bit of plastic beauty and even gameplay, but is a price to pay for a masterpiece.

However, I think there is an overreaction against none classic SH games. There is no bad SH game, not as RE Racoon City or Umbrella Corps for instance (not to mention hundreds of bad imitations of both franchises).

But I think it's also that games don't normally have that much attention to detail. A new team less familiar with the material may not have even considered a lot of these things. I think it's just more that the attention to detail and the artistry of the earlier games was out of the ordinary, so when people see Downpour with the same dirty window texture on every fucking window, it's really disappointing because they are spoiled a bit.

I think we also need to remember something too. Myself included. And nur_ein_tier kind of nailed it at the end of her post.

I highlighted it above. The fact of the matter is we were spoiled. Especially when looking at the earlier instalments. The amount of detail poured into the earlier games is something that would be very difficult to replicate.

But I think it's also that games don't normally have that much attention to detail. A new team less familiar with the material may not have even considered a lot of these things. I think it's just more that the attention to detail and the artistry of the earlier games was out of the ordinary, so when people see Downpour with the same dirty window texture on every fucking window, it's really disappointing because they are spoiled a bit.

I think we also need to remember something too. Myself included. And nur_ein_tier kind of nailed it at the end of her post.

I highlighted it above. The fact of the matter is we were spoiled. Especially when looking at the earlier instalments. The amount of detail poured into the earlier games is something that would be very difficult to replicate.

Yes...we was spoiled, but it wasn't just the art direction and design, but also the narrative told ( i know you mentioned narrative earlier...just sayin' tho..) and the weird behavior of the characters (that was probably due to the voice acting and tech of the time) but the weirdness of the characters fit the theme back then.

I remember folks hated SH4 when it dropped years ago. I loved SH4 from the very beginning because it was so different from previous installments, yet still managed to implement a disturbing and distraught atmosphere. Being locked up in your apt, while the outside world functions normally coupled with you dealing with the horrors within, told a very compelling story with the focus on Walter.

Walter's weird relationship with the room itself was just an interesting concept and a bit heart wrenching because of Walter's own distorted and disturbing past and it pieced together in how everybody in that building was connected to what Walter was trying to do....weird and obscure stories that was just lacking in later installments.

I liked Downpour, but i felt i should have been more involved in Murph's journey and his pain considering what happened with his son and yet, i really didn't feel anything.....the buildup wasn't there and i didn't feel any sympathy for Murphy....and monster designs was lacking and felt like you was fighting humans in monster costumes.....Downpour was a step in the right direction at least in terms of trying to design original monsters and stepping away from the generic PH monster designs.

clips7 wrote:I liked Downpour, but i felt i should have been more involved in Murph's journey and his pain considering what happened with his son and yet, i really didn't feel anything.....the buildup wasn't there and i didn't feel any sympathy for Murphy.....

^This.

DP did not do enough to get the player emotionally invested into Murphy. Give that narrative to the team that created 1-4....